2025 NFL Mock Draft Gives Chiefs Travis Kelce Successor at Tight End

Could the Chiefs spend their first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on a tight end of the future?

Michigan tight end Colston Loveland (18) walks off the bus as team arrive before the Texas game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, September 7, 2024. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Even though the Kansas City Chiefs are 4-0 early in their three-peat campaign in the 2024 NFL season, some eyes have started to drift to the future.

In a new 2025 NFL mock draft by Cory Kinnan on NFL Draft On SI, KC reloads with youth at the tight end position. With the No. 30 overall pick, the Chiefs select Michigan tight end Colston Loveland.

"The wheels might be coming off of the aging Travis Kelce, leaving a massive void in the Kansas City offense that is already lacking playmakers at the wide receiver position," Kinnan wrote. "They address that here in this 2025 NFL Mock Draft, selecting Michigan's Colston Loveland as the heir apparent to Kelce to give Patrick Mahomes another lethal receiving threat at the tight end position."

First, I would be neglecting my duty here if I didn't note that it's silly to imply that Kelce is doomed to skid his way to the end of his NFL career. While Kinnan's mock was published before Kelce's best game of the season in Week 4, the conversations about Kelce's demise were overstated from the beginning. However, to Kinnan's credit, the Chiefs should certainly be planning for a post-Kelce world.

The Chiefs did make two moves for the long-term health of the tight end room in 2024 by drafting Jared Wiley in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft and agreeing to a contract extension with Noah Gray just hours before the start of the season. Still, those aren't Kelce-replacing moves. To be fair, drafting Loveland wouldn't be either, as Kelce is the rare irreplaceable player. Still, a top-end trio of Gray, Loveland and Wiley could set KC up for the 2026 season, assuming Kelce returns for the final year of his contract in 2025. Tight ends typically take time to develop — giving both Wiley and Loveland a chance to take small steps as they begin their career would be a luxury KC could afford with Kelce and Gray retaining the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in '25.

Loveland has been a popular choice for Kansas City, as The 33rd Team mocked him to KC earlier in September. Jordan Foote of Kansas City Chiefs On SI took a closer look at what Loveland could provide for KC and explained his hesitance about selecting a tight end in the first round.

"My take is that the Chiefs should wait and see what their other needs are before investing a premium pick in a tight end," Foote wrote. "While it's true that replacing the Kelce role will eventually need to happen (or risk a seismic shift in how the offense operates), he's a one-of-a-kind talent. Loveland is impressive, no doubt, but Kansas City going after him would border on questionable depending on how the roster looks elsewhere."

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